During a carnival in his town, Montresor plans to execute revenge against an old foe of his, Fortunado for slandering his name. Montresor finds Fortunado and entices him to come to his wine cellar to taste a fancy wine called Amontillado.
Montresor and Fortunado enter the cellars. Fortunado has demonstrated signs of being ill, and Montresor has acknowledged this and made sure that Fortunado wanted to make his way down to retrieve the Amontillado.
Montresor proposes a toast. They drink a different wine called Medoc to "keep them warm". Montresor toasts to Fortunado's long life, and Fortunado nonchalantly toasts to all of the souls who the bones lying all over the cellar once belonged to.
As Fortunado continues to show signs of illness, Montresor once more attempts to coax Fortunado back up to ground level. Fortunado insists that he is fine, and the two continue down the cellars.
At the very bottom of the cellars, the floor littered with skeletons, Montresor chains Fortunado to the wall. Fortunado laughs, thinking this is all a joke. It is not. This is Montresor getting his revenge.
Montresor begins to build a wall over Fortunado. They make plans for the future when they will drink their Amontillado together. Fortunado begins to catch on that this was never a joke and he is going to be buried into this wall. He cries for Montresor to stop. Montresor puts the last stone in place and makes his way back upstairs.